Thursday, October 7, 2010

God in 2010

For the most part, religion in the modern world has a new face. Fanaticism has largely been replaced with adherence only in name. At least in the United States, most would describe themselves as spiritual, but try to distance themselves from dogma. For those people, religion probably plays a minimal role in their lives; God is the reason for their new promotion or their favorite sports team's recent win. There still are fundamentalists, but they're probably outnumbered. For those that describe themselves as spiritual, God is a sort of pantheistic deity. Those that are outspoken about their theism are sometimes ostracized for it, so it's natural that a new-age type of view on religion is so prevalent. Opposite of disassociation with dogma, the thing that keeps most from completely abandoning the notion of the religion they consider themselves a part of is probably the sense of community or comfort it may provide. So people usually follow some form of diluted Christianity to avoid isolating themselves from that group that they have most likely been a part of since birth, or to avoid having to be genuinely uncertain of the answers to more than a few of the questions of life. Even among those that do strictly follow fundamentalist beliefs, it's rare to see the intolerance exhibited by fringe groups like the Westboro Baptist Church. Considering Christianity's history, it can definitely be credited with making substantial strides in the direction of coexistence. The world would be a much more peaceful place were this the case everywhere.

3 comments:

  1. FANTASTIC analyzation of what religion means in 2010. I'm wondering what does God mean in these relgions though? You did a good job explaining the new spiritual phase going on in today's world and great use of vocabulary!

    Carli

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  2. Oh and my friend believes that you should be part of the Beacon because you would make the newspaper a thousand more times intellectually stimulating. PLEASE JOIN!

    Still Carli :)

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  3. I like this, perfect intro sentence. You have a great vocabulary and strong views. Keep it up

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